Man, 19, Arraigned On Assault Charges

EAST HARTFORD — A man convicted of a 1994 assault with a metal baseball bat was arraigned Wednesday on charges of trying to stab two women in front of his house, authorities said.

No one was seriously hurt in the Tuesday incident, but one of the women narrowly escaped injury when a knife thrust toward her side was blocked by a plastic hairbrush in her jacket pocket, police said.

The defendant, Jose R. Woodland, 19, of 41 Garden St., is accused of attacking the women, one of them an ex-girlfriend, as they tried to flee in a car. He also was accused of punching and kicking the car and smashing out a window, causing a third woman to be cut by flying glass.

The women, town residents Cori Nicotera, Candace Maska and Josie Lapenta, had gone to Woodland's house about 6:45 p.m. because Nicotera, his former girlfriend, wanted to visit him, police said.

``Jose's mom answered the door and told them to leave because Jose was upstairs with a knife,'' Officer James Lis said in a report.

Woodland came out of the house yelling and carrying a knife as the women were getting into their car, police said. He began punching and kicking the car, police said, and stabbed at Nicotera's hands several times as she tried to help Lapenta into the car.

Police said there were several knife holes in the car seat near where Nicotera was sitting. Woodland then turned the knife on Lapenta, police said, thrusting it at her right side.

``Josie stated that she believed her hairbrush, which was in her right- front jacket pocket, stopped the knife,'' Lis said, noting that her skin was reddened in the area where the knife struck the brush.

Lapenta's neck was scraped by the knife, police said, and Woodland also punched her in the arm. He then continued to kick and punch the car, and smashed a window where Maska was sitting, police said.

She was covered in shattered glass, which got into her eyes and cut her hands and chin.

The women managed to drive away and immediately went to the police station. Officers were sent to Woodland's house, but his mother said he had fled, police said.

Woodland was arrested without incident at his house about 9:30 p.m. after he returned and his mother called police. He was charged with two counts of attempted first- degree assault and single counts of second-degree assault, third-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

Woodland was being held late Wednesday in lieu of $25,000 bail after being arraigned in Manchester Superior Court, where he is to return April 3.

Last June, Woodland pleaded guilty to clubbing another man over the head with a metal baseball bat in Manchester during an argument on March 18, 1994. The man was not seriously injured.

Woodland was carrying a razor knife when he was arrested on a warrant a few weeks later, leading to a weapons charge. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and carrying a dangerous weapon in exchange for a three-year suspended sentence and three years of probation, court officials said.